Accessibility

Introduction

An accessible product should provide an equally high-quality experience for all users, regardless of their abilities. It’s essential to adapt designs to meet diverse needs, offer multiple ways for users to interact with the product, and ensure usability across different environments and situations.

Accessible design is a collective responsibility that spans from information architecture, user experience design, development, and beyond. It involves empathetically understanding the user journey and proactively anticipating diverse needs to create inclusive experiences.

Requirements and guidelines

Ensuring that products and web properties are accessible to all individuals, regardless of their vision, hearing, cognitive, or motor abilities, is essential for inclusivity. To make sure products are accessible to everyone, follow the four principles of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG):

  1. Perceivable
    Present information and user interface components in ways that users can clearly perceive.
  2. Operable
    Design user interface components and navigation to be easily operable, allowing users to interact without barriers.
  3. Understandable
    Make information and the functioning of the user interface comprehensible, ensuring clarity and ease of use.
  4. Robust
    Create content that can withstand technological advancements and remain reliably interpretable by various user agents and assistive technologies.

Our goal is to comply with WCAG Level A, meaning that our design and engineering outputs need to validate every guideline with a Level A. In some cases (color contrasts), we may exceed these requirements and aim for a higher level of accessibility.

Understanding disabilities

In designing for accessibility, it’s essential to consider a wide range of disabilities to create inclusive digital experiences. Here are key considerations:

Visual disabilities

  • Ensure images have descriptive alternative text and use semantic HTML for screen readers.
  • Use accessible color contrast instead of relying solely on color or shape for conveying information.

Hearing disabilities

  • Provide visual alternatives for auditory information, such as captions for videos.

Limited mobility

  • Support keyboard navigation.
  • Ensure interactive elements are sufficiently large.
  • Utilize semantic HTML for compatibility with assistive technologies.

Cognitive disabilities

  • Use clear and straightforward language.
  • Minimize cognitive load.
  • Create interfaces that are easy to navigate instead of complex designs and distractions.

Multiple/Compound disabilities

  • Design solutions that address various needs simultaneously to ensure comprehensive accessibility.

Inclusive language

  • Use language that is inclusive of all users, considering localization and diversity in gender, race, age, and ethnicity. Check our UX writing guidelines here.